Roman Abramovich hid most of his fortune before the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and before the sanctions imposed by the UK government on March 10 of that year. At stake is 760 million pounds (about 872 million euros), hidden through a complex scheme of offshore companies.
The cover-up was confirmed by the British government in a Foreign Office circular dated April 12, which mentioned the name of Demetris Ioannidis, a Cypriot citizen who had worked with the Russian oligarch for the past two decades. British authorities believe that the Cypriot is responsible for creating offshore schemes that allow the Russian magnate to hide a significant part of his assets.
According to the newspaper Público, Abramovich naturalized as Portuguese on April 30, 2021, receiving a Portuguese passport in September of that year, five months before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Russian oligarch, who also holds Israeli citizenship, obtained Portuguese citizenship thanks to the Citizenship Law, which grants naturalization to the descendants of Sephardic Jews who received an expulsion order at the end of the 15th century. Abramovich’s certification as a descendant of the Comunidade Israelita do Porto (CIP) Sephardic Jews was also the subject of an investigation that began in January 2021 but has yet to come to a conclusion, according to the newspaper.